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Clouds Over Mount Tamalpais
21 September 2022
Living at the top of a hill in San Francisco gives us a broad perspective on the world. We showed you our urban perspective the other day with a shot of the passing storm over the city, but we started that hike with this rural shot.
Clouds Over Mount Tamalpais. Olympus E-PL1 with 60mm Lensbaby Twist mounted on the Tilt Transformer at f5.6, 1/2000 second and ISO 125. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
Walking to Twin Peaks we saw Mount Tam crowned with clouds to the north. We stopped, took the camera out of the bag and lined up the shot. Then we stood there a minute admiring the view. After a summer of fog, clouds are a novelty.
This urban/rural mix is not much appreciated beyond the Bay area.
People don't visit San Francisco to go hiking, we realize. They want to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Chinatown, those charming cable cars climbing halfway to the stars, all the famous attractions.
But when you live here the beauty of the place is overwhelming.
And being overwhelmed by beauty is the best medicine for seeing beauty everywhere you look. Beyond the Bay area, certainly, but even here where sometimes life isn't pretty.
We now and then recall Bill Moyers quoting a line from some philosopher or other who was reflecting on some bad behavior by observing, "They have not seen enough of beauty."
We think of that when we see the streets littered or buildings graffitied or the other signs of urban life that disturb people.
And we stop, take the camera out of the bag and line up a shot to add one more rectangle of beauty to the world.